Majid Khan's Catch-22

Two months ago, TalkLeft introduced you to Majid Khan, a Baltimore resident who was detained in secret overseas prisons before he was moved to Guantanamo. Earlier this month, TalkLeft chided the government's effort to preclude Khan's defense lawyers from talking to him.

The reason [for preventing contact between attorney and client], as offered by an "information review officer for the National Clandestine Service," is because he was held in a "top secret" program and "may have come into possession of information, including locations of detention, conditions of detention and alternative interrogation techniques." And the government wouldn't want his attorney to reveal any of that information in court because of national security.

So the U.S. captured Khan, put him in a hiding spot for three years, finally allowed him legal representation to — we presume — defend himself, but doesn't let him talk to that legal representation because the U.S. captured him and put him in a hiding spot for three years.

Give it up, President Bush. When you've lost Appleton, Wisconsin, you've lost pretty much everyone.

The editorial's closing words:

[T]o simply capture people from around the world with some vague accusations about being involved in terror and essentially erase their humanity — their very existence — without due process is un-American, plain and simple.

And holding them responsible for being captured by us with no charge, put in our secret prisons and "interrogated" by us is self-serving and totalitarian, actions that are more reminiscent of the very regimes we rail against than our own proud justice system.

You make a lot of assumptions about Khan. Perhaps they are true. If your assumptions are true, then maybe there is no reason to worry about him. However, when we have cases like Mayfield, who could still be held without cause, if it was not for the diligent work of the spanish police who finally put a different name to the fingerprints in Madrid. I know Jim your position on the War and terrorism. It is pointless to argue. For now, you and I don't have to worry about being picked up and placed in some internment camp never to be heard from again, because we are not Muslim. Perhaps, if your people remain in power, you will never have to worry about being held without cause, since you are a Patriot who doesn't question this war of the way it has been conducted. I however, do worry that circumstances could change and the ones who speak out against the government will eventually be the target of the the military Tribunal, the patriot and similar acts. I think, you should as well, because sometime circumstances take dramatic turns, such as in Iraq, where now it is the Shia who are in control and operating no different tha Saddam in terms of methods. Torture, fear, and control of information are all legitimate methods for obtaining security for some members of Iraqis, now. What I am saying is that the laws written now by this administration in the name of security can be used for sinister reasons by whoever obtains power in the future. That is what you should worry about. Pointless to make this argument to you, but I thought it worth saying anyway.

Ali said his son had been in Pakistan less than a year when, in 2003, he was arrested by Pakistani authorities.

At one point, in seeming contradiction, he said of his son, "He has been brainwashed." He also acknowledged that a relative is affiliated with al-Qaeda. Authorities last week described that unidentified relative as an uncle, but Ali said the relationship is more distant.

is not as conservative as you think. They once called for consevative letters to the editor because everyone who was writing in was against the war. I think TL may have covered it, but I'm late for class and cannot check the archives. Did you know that Milwaukee had a socialist mayor for 20 years?

But I'm sure some will, with a bit of effort, find a way to miss the point.

On October 3, 2006, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) announced it has filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of Majid Khan in DC District Court, one of the 14 'ghost detainees' President Bush recently transferred to Guantánamo. Filed hours before the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the petition challenges the constitutionality of denying non-citizen detainees the right of habeas corpus. Mr. Khan was imprisoned in secret CIA detention for 3 1/2 years and subjected to "alternative interrogation methods" that amount to torture. He has never been formally charged with a crime or declared an enemy combatant.
...Majid Khan immigrated with his family to the United States in 1996. They settled in Baltimore, where he attended Owings Mills High School, graduating in 1999. Majid was granted legal asylum in the U.S. in 1998 and subsequently worked for the State of Maryland. In 2002, he went to Pakistan to get married and then came home to the United States to continue working. Shortly after returning to his wife in Pakistan, Majid and other relatives were kidnapped from their residence.

In the middle of the night, on March 5, 2003, individuals identified as Pakistani security officials pounded on the door of the home of Majid's brother in Karachi, and rushed into the flat. The family members at home included Majid, his brother, his brother's wife and their month-old daughter. As the family was trying to wake up, the officials hooded and bound all of them before placing them in a vehicle. They were all taken to an unknown location.

Majid's sister-in-law and infant niece were imprisoned for a week. Pakistani officials imprisoned his brother for approximately one month. When Majid's brother was released, officials threatened him not to make any public statements or inquire after Majid. As a result of the threats, Majid's family in Baltimore and Karachi waited anxiously and fearfully for his return. He was never released or heard from again.

Back home in the U.S., Mr. Khan's family cooperated with U.S. authorities in every way they could; Majid's older brother, a U.S. citizen, was interviewed hundreds of times by the FBI and asked repeatedly about Majid's whereabouts. Nonetheless, Majid's family did not learn he was in U.S. custody or even that he was alive until a news reporter knocked on their door and told them President Bush announced Majid's name in a speech before the nation on September 6th.
...
Majid now has a young daughter he hasn't seen.

Legal asylum in America.
No battlefield.
No enemy comabatant.
No fleeing.
No resistance.
No rights.
Grabbbed from his fu*king BED while sleeping beside his wife in the middle of the night.

Ali said his son had been in Pakistan less than a year when, in 2003, he was arrested by Pakistani authorities.

At one point, in seeming contradiction, he said of his son, "He has been brainwashed." He also acknowledged that a relative is affiliated with al-Qaeda. Authorities last week described that unidentified relative as an uncle, but Ali said the relationship is more distant.